Jean-Baptiste Clamence, a former Parisian defense lawyer, tells his story to a stranger in an Amsterdam bar called Mexico City. He once thought of himself as a decent man who helped the poor and the disadvantaged. One night, he heard a woman fall from a bridge into the Seine and did nothing. The splash and the cry have followed him ever since, and he has become a self-described judge-penitent, confessing his guilt in a way that makes his listeners feel guilty too. Camus's last completed novel is a short monologue that mixes confession and accusation.
It is a good fit for readers who like moral puzzles and unreliable narrators. It also rewards anyone curious about Camus beyond The Stranger.
Deep, inward-looking, contemplative, open-ended and thought-provoking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Wisdom Collector. Which reader are you?
- ISBN
- 9789723828696
- Language
- PT
Quotes by Albert Camus
More →One must imagine Sisyphus happy.
The Myth of Sisyphus
The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
The Rebel
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
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